[Half an hour earlier, in the sewer.]

After coming back to his home for a few hours of sleep, Peter instantly got out again and stepped into the gutter. Did he regret it? Kind of.

"Jesus... This smell..." Gulping, Peter couldn't help himself but stopped crawling for a second. "Karen, do you have anything to filter the smell?"

"I have an air filter built-in to the mask, do you need me to turn it on?"

"Just do it... The smell is killing me..."

"Got it," With that said, the text 'air filter on' appeared on Spidey's HUD, and the disgusting smell instantly disappeared.

letting out a breath of relief, Peter took a few more breaths before continuing his crawling. "This is where you detected the unusual movement, right?"

"Yes, just ahead."

Nodding to himself, Spidey closed his eyes for a second. "Let's hope that we're gonna find something here."

"Me too, Peter."

Reaching the end of the sewer they're in, Spider-Man did a front flip and stuck on the wall, looking around the large area in front of him. The room in front of him was strangely massive, and a pile of different things lying in the center of the room.

However, the most disturbing thing... was on the wall.

"Holy shit..." Peter murmured to himself, looking around at the wall.

It was filled with scratch marks and nonsense craved into the wall, and in most of them was the word 'Oscorp'.

"Oscorp... Did that Lizard have something to do with them?" Asking out loud, he leaped from the wall and landed in the middle of the room.

"It could be," Karen replied. "I just looked into Oscorp's database, and there's something related to Lizard."

"What's that?"

"A serum designed to regenerate lost body parts, extracted from Lizard DNA."

"Lizard DNA..." Peter trailed off, stroking his chin as he kept looking around for anything useful. "Karen, can you find the creator of that serum?"

"Done," Karen replied in an instant, showing a photo of Curtis in his HUD. "The serum was created by Dr. Curtis Connor, with the assistant from his wife."

"Curtis Connor... can you contact him? I want to talk with him."

"I'm afraid the answer is 'no'."

"'No'? Why?"

"...He's been missing for over a week now," The AI answered, showing the page from NYPD missing person. "Ever since the day of... Lizard's appearance on the bridge."

"...Dammit, that's not going well."

"Wait, there's more lead to it," She suddenly said, and the image of Gwen popped in front of him. "Gwen is an intern in Oscorp, right? We found her with Martha Connor on that day."

"Now that you're mentioning it, call Gwen, now," With that said, Peter's HUD almost instantly rang with Gwen's voice.

"Peter? What happened?"

"Gwen, do you know anything related to Curtis Connor?" He asked, looking into the pile of stuff in the middle.

"Dr. Connor?" She stayed silent for a moment. "Not that I'm aware of. I only knew him as my mom's friends."

"But why asking about it? Did the Lizard relate to him?"

Feeling something in the bottom of the pile, Spidey stopped for a second before answering. "Well... I'm at Lizard's... uh... nest."

Taking the mysterious object from the pile, he looked around the wall to see if there's any more stretching on the wall. However, there's only the word 'Oscorp'. "And the name 'Oscorp' was written all over the wall..."

"You're at what?!" If Karen didn't tune down the volume for a significate amount, Peter's ear would be ringing by now.

Startling in surprise, Peter awkwardly coughed and examined the object in his hand. "It's nest... in the sewer." He said, wiping the dirt and other unidentifiable stuff on it. "I need to know where it has been, OK?"

It was an empty injecter, and Ocsorp's logo was visible on the white tube-like object.

"Peter, where the hell are you-"

Before Gwen could finish her word, Peter quickly interrupted her with his, shrugging. "I'm fine. You don't need to worry," As he finished his reply, his Spider-Sense suddenly buzzed, alerting him that he's not alone.

Widening his eyelid in surprise, Spidey quickly glanced around him to catch anything. "Something's here..." He murmured to himself. "But I don't see it, weird..."

"Peter, just get the hell out of there. I don't like how it's going."

"I'm really fine, Gwen," Giggling, he looking back to the injecter in his hand, totally unaware of Lizard's silhouette behind him. "But you're worried about me, that's heartwarming-"

Before he could finish, his Spider-Sense buzzed again and warned him. Turning around, Peter didn't have time to react before Lizard's claw suddenly grabbed his neck, slamming him to the wall.

"̶P̶a̷t̸h̸e̶t̴i̴c̸ ̶b̸u̵g̵.̴.̵.̷"̶ It growled, staring right at Peter's eyes. "A̴l̵w̶a̷y̷s̵ ̶p̶o̷k̶i̸n̵g̶ ̷h̸i̶s̸ ̴h̶e̵a̴d̸ ̷t̷o̴ ̷s̶o̶m̸e̶w̴h̷e̵r̷e̸ ̶h̵e̷ ̸d̴o̴e̷s̴n̷'̸t̷ ̷b̴e̷l̶o̴n̸g̶.̶"

"H...hey, Lizard..." He managed to squeeze out through the tight grip around his neck, both of his hands were struggling to free himself from the grasp. "What had you done to Curtis Connor?"

"̶C̶u̴r̷t̸i̴s̶ ̸C̶o̶n̸n̸o̷r̵ ̸i̶s̵ ̸d̷e̴a̵d̶,̸ ̷n̴o̴w̵ ̴o̷n̵l̵y̸ ̵L̷i̶z̸a̵r̷d̸ ̴r̷e̴m̴a̶i̴n̶s̶.̸"̷ Lizard said through the distorted voice, its other hand started to reach Spidey's mask. "̷N̸o̸w̵,̷ ̶l̷e̵t̸'̷s̷ ̶s̵e̷e̸ ̸w̵h̴o̸ ̴i̵s̶ ̵t̸h̴e̷ ̷o̷n̸e̴ ̶b̶e̵h̵i̴n̵d̸ ̵t̷h̵e̷ ̷m̸a̸s̴k̵.̸"̵

"Peter! Your heartbeat is increasing at an alarming rate!"

"I... know," He gasped, using all of his strength to tear the grip away. "Karen... escape route..."

"I'm looking!"

However, just as Karen finished her reply, Lizard tore the mask off from Peter. Staring at his look of struggle, its eyes widened for a brief moment but quickly narrowed. "̸I̴t̵'̷s̷ ̵y̸o̵u̷.̸.̵.̴"̸

"̸P̸e̴t̷e̴r̷.̵.̷.̶ ̸P̶a̴r̵k̸e̴r̶.̶"̷

Peter couldn't believe what he just heard, widening his eyes in shock and disbelief. The Lizard knew who he was under the mask? How? Who exactly was it?

Feeling the grip around his neck loosened for a bit, he quickly kicked its torso and freed himself, firing a line of web to grab the mask from its hand. "Karen, you're there?"

"I didn't go offline, Peter," Karen answered sarcastically, highlighting a narrow hallway on the top of the wall. "There, just follow the sewer and you'll be fine."

"Got it," Nodding, he swiftly leaped from the wall over its shoulder, firing another line of web and pulled himself to the highlighted hole. However, the chilling howl from the Lizard startled him.

"T̴h̵i̵s̴ ̸i̷s̶ ̶n̶o̶t̵ ̴t̷h̴e̴ ̶e̷n̵d̴,̸ ̸P̵e̶t̴e̴r̷ ̴P̸a̶r̴k̸e̶r̴.̶" It said, somehow audible through the distorted voice. And it started to dash toward him, climbing up the wall.

Gulping, Peter closed his eyes for a moment before picking up the speed of his crawling. "C'mon..." He murmured, jumping through the hole and stuck his hand to the ceiling.

Turning back and stared at its face on the entrance, just small enough to block him. Lizard's eyes were cold as ice, but also filled with anger. Couldn't help himself but faintly shivering, Peter quickly turned around and swung away from it, finally stopping at somewhere near an exit.

Releasing a breath he's unawarely holding, Peter took out the injecter and further examined it. "Karen, can you find anything on it?"

"Scanning..." Karen replied, scanning the injecter for a moment before continuing her answer. "Other than the dirt, there's the serial number on it."

"serial number?"

"Yes, serial number," She said. "Let me analyze further. I'm going to search for it on Oscorp's database."

Nodding, Peter stayed silent as the AI compared the serial number with Oscorp's database. "Karen, how can you get access to Oscorp's database?"

"I never said I have access," Karen deadpanned. "I am an AI created by Tony Stark, do you think Oscorp's digital security is difficult for me to hack?"

"You hacked it?!" Exclaiming in surprise, Spidey stopped for a second to calm himself down. "...Oscorp won't notice you hacking, right?"

"I guess so," Replying as if she's shrugging. The AI continued her search for a moment. "Got it, I found who got the injecter before ending up here."

"Really?" Grinning under the mask, he jumped to the other side and climbed up on the ladder. "Who got it?"

"Curtis Connor."

"Curtis Connor?" Now Peter was confused. "He has this injecter before ending up in the sewer..."

However, as he kept murmuring to himself, the dots started to connect. There are too many commons between Lizard and Curtis, he went missing on the same day Lizard appeared... Having the one injecter which mysteriously ended up in Lizard's nest.

Lizard's hate against Oscorp...

"No way..." Widening his eyes in realization, Peter looked at the injecter in his hand again. "Karen, did Curtis Connor worked with someone in the Parker family?"

"Yes, he was a college with Richard Parker, back when Oscorp first started in the 90s," Karen replied. "I think you should ask May about him."

"...I'm thinking the same thing," Narrowing his eyelid, Peter pushed the cover away and jumped. Attaching a line of web to a building nearby and swung, landing on a rooftop nearby.

However, a certain blonde suddenly crept into his mind, reminding him of the call. "Shit..." He murmured. "Karen, call Gwen."

"Already done."

At that exact instant, Gwen's voice suddenly rang through the speaker. "Peter Parker! Do you know how worried I was?! You just call me for no reason and suddenly stopped replying... I was scared that you might be dead!"

"I'm s-sorry..." Peter murmured, looking down to his feet. "Lizard attacked, and I had to escape as quickly as possible."

After a few moments, Gwen finally calmed down and let out a deep breath. "...Did you get hurt?"

"Just some scratches," Answering with a faint smile, but it fell instantly as he remembered one thing. "But there's something I want to ask you."

"About Dr. Connor?"

"Not exactly," He said. "Can you ask Martha Connor about the Lizard?"

"Huh? Why would she involved with the Lizard?"

"Ask her about any serum, especially serum with Lizard."

"...I'll try."

"I'm counting on you, Gwen."

With that said, Peter cut the call and checked where he was, looking around before jumping from the roof. Swinging around and headed his apartment in Queens.


[The next day, Midtown High] (Ethan's POV)

Well, there was only a day and now I was back in school, the worst part of having a secret identity. Thanks to my strengthened recover rate, my injuries were mostly healed.

But my shoulder still hurt.

"Ouch..." Murmuring to myself, I opened my locker and packed textbooks and notebooks.

"Still hurt?" Turning around, I was greeted by Peter, crossing his arms with a faint smile.

"Yeah, hurt like shit," I nodded, closing the locker's door. "After all, I just had some bandages and care from Felicia..."

"Wait, you know now?"

"I was helping her to get you to her home," He deadpanned, opening his locker (which was next to mine) and packed his books. "I should've connected the dot when you got bit."

"Well, I really suck on concealing my identity..." I trailed off, giving out a sigh. "God, you're rubbing off on me, Peter."

"I'm not that bad."

"Yes, you are," I said, trying my best to hold down a smirk. "I figured it out for the first time we met in costume, I just never told you."

Speechless, Peter took a few moments before continuing his packing. "...That's reassuring."

"Well, other than us and Felicia, who knows about our secret identity?" I couldn't help but asked, raising an eye in curiosity.

"Gwen, that's it."

"Hmm, you're better than I thought," I chuckled. "Rachel knows about me too, got caught red-handed."

Peter only chuckled in response.

Sighing, I glanced at the clock on the wall. "Well, Physics class is about five minutes away," I said, starting to walk over to the Physics classroom. "We'll talk later."

"Yeah."


In the meantime, Rachel and Betty were sitting in their history class, mostly bored from Mr. Dell's lecture.

"Why are we talking about the Dark Ages again?" Rachel murmured to herself, resting her head on her palms. "Betty?"

Betty shrugged in response. "Witch hunt, I guess."

"It makes sense..." Trailing off, the raven-haired girl stared at nowhere for a second. "Hey Betty, Midtown News is still missing a co-host, right?"

"Yeah, the principal is still looking for one," Nodding, Betty shifted her attention to Rachel, raising an eye in curiosity. "But why are you asking 'bout it?"

"Uh... I'm kinda interested," Rachel said. "I-it's not like I'm interested because we're g-going to host together if I'm in..."

"I never said that."

"O-oh," She murmured to herself with a faint blush, avoiding Betty's gaze in embarrassment. "J-just forget about it."

"No, I don't think I will," Smirking, the blonde girl leaned closer. "Rachel, do you know you're adorable?"

"I-I'm not cute..."

"I'm just messing with you," Betty couldn't help herself but giggle at her, shifting her smirk to a full smile. "Geez, you're so easy to tease."

Rachel opened her mouth, but nothing came out as a response. "...I'm still serious about joining the news team." She murmured, just loud enough for the blonde to hear.

"I can see that," She smiled in return, extending the distance back to normal. "We'll talk to the principal after class, OK?"

"Yeah," The raven-haired girl nodded eagerly, her smile matching Betty's.


[Afterclass, Principal's office]

Principal Morita was a man who was all about rules, strict and 'no jokes'. However, these things above only applied to students who were the worst.

For Betty and Rachel's case, it was an entirely different story.

"Miss Turner, you wanted to join the news team?" He asked, raising an eye as he looked at the two girls.

"Yes," Rachel nodded with a faint smile on her face.

"But you're only here for about a week, are you sure that you're joining?"

"I know," She nodded again. "But I'm interested in reporting the news. I want to know how it feels."

Morita pondered, stroking his chin for a moment before nodding in approval. "That's the spirit I want to see. Rarely a student would actively volunteer to something like this."

"So uh..." Betty opened her mouth to say something, but she paused for a moment before continuing. "Principal Morita, does this mean Rachel..."

"Yes, Miss Brant," The principal smiled, shifting his focus from Betty to Rachel. "Welcome to the team, Miss Turner."

Rachel beamed in response, politely bowing at him. "Thank you, Principal Morita."

"It's fine, Miss Turner," Morita kept the smile on his face, gesturing at the door behind them. "Miss Brant, you're going to introduce her to the team."

Betty nodded, leading Rachel as she opened the door. Once the two were back to the hallway, the raven-haired girl's smile widened into a full grin.

"Excited?" Betty giggled, walking down the hallway to her locker.

"Of course!" She eagerly nodded. "So, we're going to have a meeting after school today?"

"I guess, it's all depended by Mr. Berman," The blonde shrugged, reaching the locker and opened it. "We have different classes coming up, talk at lunch?"

"Yeah, talk later," Nodding again, Rachel quickly walked toward her locker.


[Lunchtime, Canteen] (Ethan's POV)

After the bell rang and we all went to the canteen, the five of us found the usual seat. And MJ was all about that battle with Lizard.

"Ethan, what do you think about that battle?" She asked, raising an eye in curiosity. "I'm curious."

"Uh... I don't know," I muttered, wincing slightly as my shoulder suddenly ached again. "That thing's going to cause some havoc if no one stops him, but Spider-Man's here."

She nodded, seems to be satisfied with my answer. However, Gwen noticed my faint wincing, narrowing her eyes at me. "Ethan, something happened to your back?"

Shit! OK, Ethan, time to bullshit your way out of this.

"Yeah..." I nodded. "I fell from a stair today, silly me."

C'mon, just forgot about it and move on...

"You fell?" She raised an eye in confusion, leaning closer to take a better look. "Ain't you lived in an apartment? Why would you fell from a stair out of all things?"

Shit, I'd put myself to a corner.

I peeked to Peter next to me, only to be greeted by a look which said, 'Don't ask me, I have no ways to help you'. Well, I didn't blame him.

"W-well..." Trailing off, I stared at nowhere as I tried my best to figure out an excuse. "It's because-"

"He was staying in my house," Felicia suddenly interrupted me, calmly taking a bite of her bread.

However, silence covered our table as soon as she said that. Peter was not surprised at her words at all, just glanced at me with a confused look. And I was somewhat shocked at her sudden action.

She's probably trying to shift the attention away of me, but you're doing the exact opposite, Felicia. Look, Gwen and MJ were in total shock at your words!

"You've gotta be kiddin' me..." MJ murmured, her eyes widened to the point that her eyes almost bulged out. "Gwen, did you listened to the same thing?"

"Yeah..." Gwen nodded, her eyes also widened as much as MJ. "Felicia, you're not joking, right?"

"Of course, I was just messing with you guys," Felicia giggled, a bit of her 'Black Cat' persona slipped through as she gave me those seductive glances. "Right, Ethan?"

OK, what the hell was she thinking?

Shifting my glasses, I quickly nodded. "Yeah..."

"Wait a sec, Felicia," The blonde girl suddenly interrupted ourselves, her suspicious glances kept shifting between Felicia and me. "You two are acting weird..."

Thankfully, MJ suddenly groaned in annoyance, taking Gwen's attention from us to her. "My head hurt..." She murmured out loud, shaking her head. "Let's just drop this topic, OK?"

"By the way, lunch is ending," Peter said, pointing at the clock hanging on the wall. "Ethan, I have something to talk with you."

Huh?

Raising an eye in confusion, I nodded, finished the remaining of my lunch in seconds, and I quickly left the canteen with him. What about Felicia? She's probably going to be interrogated by the other two girls. Probably.

Once we're back in the hallway, Peter quickly grabbed me to a (relatively) empty corner. "So, I may have figured out Lizard's identity."

"You figured it out?"

"Uh... It's more Karen's work, but it doesn't matter right now," He said. "It's Dr. Curtis Connor, or I thought."

Oh, so he figured it out.

"You need some confirmation, Peter," I said, crossing my arms and narrowed my eyes. "But what did you do when I was recovering?"

"I went to the sewer to find any trace of it..." He started, closed his eyes as he recollected the memories about it. "Then I came across its nest, and I found an injecter in the pile of something... But then he ambushed me and took off my mask."

"The weird thing is that he recognized me..."

Wait a sec, what? "He recognized you?" I asked.

"Yeah! He said my name out loud, and told me that 'It's not going to be the end'..."

So he went to the sewer and fought with Lizard, got his mask took off, and it recognized him... Wait, were we experiencing the plot of the first Amazing Spider-Man movie?

Lizard first appearing on the bridge, then that fight with him...

Wait, after the sewer battle, the next encounter with it will be...

Here.

I widened my eyes in realization and shock. The dots were all connected. "Peter, I think we just got ourselves into some real fucking problem."

"What problem?" Peter asked, raising an eye in confusion.

"Now that thing knows your identity, and he's either going after May or here," I explained, causing his eyes to be widened.

"OK, I think I really messed up..." He muttered, taking a few moments to calm himself. "I'll call Happy to warn him about the Lizard, but if it's coming here..."

"We'll have to fight him here," I finished for him, sighing and leaned at the wall behind me. "I don't want to do this either, but it's the only way."

"Yeah..." He nodded, taking out his phone and called Happy. "...Happy? Can you look after May for me?"

"...Yeah, she's maybe in danger... It's the Lizard, it knows my identity."

After a few minutes of silence and nodding, Peter finished the call and sighed. "Let's hope that it's not going after May..." He murmured.

"I hope so..."


The remaining lessons went by like a flash. But for Peter and me, we're anxious about whether Lizard would suddenly appear in the school or not. Thankfully, it didn't show up, for now.

Once we heard the bell rang, Peter and I quickly packed our belongings and left, walking down the hallway toward the main gate.

"So, you're going back to its nest again?" I asked, shifting my backpack.

"Yeah," Peter nodded. "Maybe there are more things I overlooked."

"Can't beat that," I shrugged.

However, screaming suddenly rang through the whole hallways, catching our attention. "RUN!" Someone around the corner on the other side shouted.

We exchanged a glance at each other, taking a step back in caution. Please didn't be what I was thinking...

A swarm of students suddenly dashed around the corner, and what was following them was-

"You've got to be fucking kidding me..."

It was Lizard.

Roaring, its eyes scanned the whole hallway before locking on us. No, it was on Peter.

"He's onto you, Peter," I muttered, taking another step backward.

"I know, go get the others," Peter said, scanning the hallways. "I'll lead it to somewhere away from the crowd."

Nodding, I turned around and dashed, taking out my phone and called Yuri. "...C'mon..."

"Hello? Noir?"

"Yuri, the Lizard is attacking Midtown High," I said through the panting as I ran, searching for the girls.

"Wait. What?"

"You heard me. Lizard is attacking Midtown High!"

"...OK, I'll send a few units over there. I'm receiving calls from Midtown High too."

"Thank you." With that said, I cut the call and continued my dash.


[Meanwhile, Midtown News Studio]

After school ended, Mr. Berman called everyone on the team for a meeting. The studio was located on the other side of the campus. It was tiny, but big enough for five people.

However, there's no one here.

"What the hell?" Betty asked out loud, looking around the tiny studio. "Where's everyone?"

Rachel, who was standing behind her, raised an eye in confusion. "Maybe... We're too early?"

"No, Jason always comes here before me," the blonde replied, shaking her head. "And I had to walk you over here today..."

"Let's just wait. They should be here by now," Shrugging, she sat on the swivel chair next to the computer. Meanwhile, Rachel took another chair and sat down, resting her head on her palms.

The two waited for a few minutes in silence, but there's something off. "What the hell..." Betty murmured, taking out her phone and was about to call the others.

However, the screaming from the floor below startled them.

"RUN!"

"What the..." Trailing off, she stood up and walked over to the door. "Rachel, stay here, OK?"

"Uh..." Pondering for a moment, Rachel shook her head and stood up from the chair. "No, I want to know what happened too."

"Well, I can't force you to stay,"

With that said, the two girls left the room studio, walking down the empty hallway. The screamings were all gone, just as sudden as how it came. "Weird..." The raven-haired girl muttered, noticing some growling from the other end of the hallway.

"Betty," she called, narrowing her eyes at the other end. "I heard something over there..."

Turning around, they were greeted by the silhouettes of two things, as the two shapes started to close toward them, the two girls were able to identify them. It was Spider-Man and Lizard.

The human-reptile hybrid focused on them in mid-battle, its steps shook the ground beneath. As the distance between them started to shorten, it picked up its pace and slowly turned into a dash.

The Webhead turned around and noticed them, his eyelid widened in shock. "R-run!"

Hearing his words and without any hesitation, Rachel grabbed her wrist and ran in the opposite direction.


With that, Chapter 11 is done! Thank you for reading!

Now, the Midtown battle between the Lizard and both Spider-Man and Noir begins!

And yes, the end of this arc is near, and I'm open for villain suggestions!

Review response:

Guest: Well... Uh, it's my fault for the whole part of Jessica Jones' investigation to be unclear. I had made some changes 'bout it in response. If you're reading it, you can check the new changed in Chapter 10.

Bountyhunter1977: About this version of Spider-Man was based on MCU. I know some people don't like him because of the whole 'Tony Stark Jr.' thing. But in this fic, he was already his own hero, Tony Stark would mostly be mentioned.

About the whole glasses thing, Peter already has the power for about a year (a bit more than a year to be exact). So even he did ditch the glasses suddenly, most people were used to it, or they didn't notice the difference.

Also, since Peter was Spider-Man for about a year now, he did have some training by the Avengers (He was a reserve member, it was mentioned in Chapter 8)

As for Noir's whole phone debacle, I think I could change that to him using a gang member's phone to call the police would be better. I'll make some changes to that.

Raidentensho: I think Ethan would use his smarts to upgrade his gadgets, and with his name spread further in New York, it would grab some people's interest (Wilson Fisk included).

And yes, Ethan and Felicia would run into the Defenders (two of the four Defenders were already looking into him). As for the relationships between the Hand and Dead-Bridges, they'll be more like partners and corporative relationship than the Hand funding Dead-Bridges.

Guest #2: Well, about the whole 'Sunflower' scene, Ethan did know that the way to detach the hand is relaxing his hands. He hummed the song more as a fun reference (to himself and us, slightly breaking the fourth wall if you say so.)

And when Ethan touched the wall, he was testing the power and thought of 'cling to it', he was a bit nervous. Maybe I did make some details too unclear.

(EDIT)BloodRaven46: I'm sorry that I forgot about your question!

But if anyone's asking, Felicia would be portrayed by Margaret Qualley (Basically her look in that Netflix 'Death Note', or 'the Leftovers')

Death Fury: Thank you!

shugokage: Thank you very much!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story so far!

R&R please.